For the first time since the shortage of pump-price diesel was reported in Sarawak more than a year ago, the 'Minyak Disel Habis' signs have started appearing in petrol stations in the state capital, Kuching.

A irate opposition politician Dr Patau Rubis, who has a diesel-run engine 4WD vehicle, told malaysiakini he could not understand how such a thing could be happening in Sarawak.

Sarawak, as it turns out, is not only the nation's leading liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer but also oil, although crude oil production is not produced at the same level as before.

Being part of the federation of Malaysia, Sarawakians pay the same amount with a slight price variation for diesel, gas and petrol at retail pump stations.

Uniform low rate

Under a government's policy to help certain consumers, diesel for motorists, fishermen, lorry drivers, public transport operations is retailed at a lower price - 80 per litre compared to RM1.40 per litre for industrial usage.

But the lower-priced diesel has not been going where it should all be going, and as a result the consumer market for which the quota supply is intended has occasionally been facing a shortage.

A Sarawakian who asked not to be identified said since Sarawak is a major producer and is only getting five per cent royalty with the bulk of the royalty going to the federal government, the state government should insist on a uniform low rate for all types of diesel consumers in the state as well as lower prices for other types of petrol.

The overall Sarawak consumer market is small compared with the rest of the country and without adding the duties and letting oil companies sell at cost price, the selling prices at pump stations could be reduced significantly, he added.

The alternative is for the federal government to increase the state's royalty to 20 or 30 per cent from the present five per cent and let the state government determine whether it want to use part of the roaylty revenue to subsidise the selling prices to benefit Sarawakians, he said.

Quick fix

This view appears to be shared by many other Sarawakians who also said that higher royalty payments could also help in the development of communication and other infrastructures which are still lacking in Sarawak when compared with Peninsular Malaysia.

Sarawak's two deputy chief ministers Dr George Chan and Alfred Jabu have publicly spoken on the difficulties and problems caused by the quota system in selling diesel at pump prices.

Both have pressed the authorities to find a quick solution in order not to cause further inconveniences and problems to consumers in the state.

The Ministry of Finance is said to be giving the country's oil companies, Petronas and Shell, the green light when the time comes to up their quotas for supply to the hundreds of petrol stations throughout the state in the wake of the anger and frustration of many diesel users, especially in the rural and remote areas of the state.

If this is to be done without increasing duties and in turn selling prices, it means the government will spend more on subsidies which has to come from current budget or supplementary budget for which the source has to be money that originally comes from sales from the production of Petronas' oil.